Supply means for aircraft



G. L. SABOT.

SUPPLY MEANS FOR AIRCRAFT.

Patented Jan. 20, 1920.

APPLICATIN FILED FEB. 28, 191,9.

3 SHEETS-SHEET L G. L. CABUT.

SUPPLY MEANS FOR AIRCRAFT.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 28,. 191.9.

Patented Jan. 20, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- @tto/Imag G. L. CABOT.

SUPPLY MEANS FOR AIRCRAFT.

APFLLCATION FILED FEB. 28,1919.

Patented Jan.20,1920.

GODFREY L. CABOT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SUPPLY MEANS FOR AIRCRAFT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 20, 1920.

Application iled February 28, 1919. Serial No. 279,746.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, Gournay L. CABOT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Supply Means for Aircraft; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention aims to improve upon the device shown in my United States application, Serial No. 264,083, to such an extent as to eliminate the necessity of extremely accuratev flight in order to engage the cable depending fom the aircraft, ywith the coupling member to which the supplies are attached, the improvements bein intended principally for picking up sac s of mail, although any burden may be handled thereby.

With the foregoing in view, the invention resides in the novel combination of parts and in the unique features of construction hereinafter fully described and claimed, the descriptive matter being supplemented by the accompanying drawings which form a part of this application.

Figure l is a perspective view of the invention showing the depending cable en- Jtering one of the cable guides.

Fig. 9 is a detail side elevation showin@ the manner in which the burden is lifted by the depending cable.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the cable guides and associated parts.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the planes indicated by the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the cable guides and the burden holding and lifting means.

Fig. G is an enlarged vertical section on` v supporting such coupler.

Fig. 7 1s a side elevation showing a different form of coupler support.

Fig. 8 is an edge view of the device seen in Fig. 7.

Briefly speaking, the present invention consists of a cable C carried by the aircraft A, a pair of cable engaging or coupling members E, either one of which the cable C is adapted to pick up, guides G for guiding the cable C to one member E or the other, according to the. relative position of the aircraft A, a burden carrier B, and connections between the members E and the carrier B permitting said carrier to be raised by either of said members, without disturbing the other member, when the cable C comes into p ay. i

The aircraft A may, of course, be an airplane, a seaplane, or of any other design, and its details form no part of the present invention, although it may be stated that it is preferably provided with means such as indicated at M, for winding the cable C to raise the burden.

The cable C is of elastic nature and is provided on its lower end with a weight W to enter the throat T of either of the cable engaging members E, these members being constructed and supported in thesame manner as in the application above mentioned, and therefore, further description is unnecessary, except it may be pointed out, that whereas only one such member is used in the aforesaid application, two are here employed, carried respectively by the front ends of the two guides G, each of which guides consists of converging walls.

Mounted on the inner sides of the guides Gr, at their front ends, are supports preferably in the form of sockets, such as that detailed at l in Fig. 6 or at la in Figs. 7 and 8. Each socket l is carried by the upper end of a supporting plate 2 pivotally mounted at 3 upon a horizontal axis transverse to the direction of Hight of the aircraft A, as the latter passes over the guides, the aforesaid plate being normally held in vertical position by a coiled spring 4 which is attached thereto at one end and has its other end connected to the guide. This arrangement oi any other adequate construction may be provided to allow the plates 2 and sockets l to tilt as indicated by the line L of Fig. li, the function of such tilting being hereinafter fully described.

In the form of socket shown in Figs. 7 and 8, such socket is permanently tilted and may be secured to the guide by any preferred means such as the attaching plate 2a.

Receivable in the sockets l or la as the case may be, is the lower end 5 of a coupling member which is shown in the form of the vertical plate 6, said plate being laterally bowed between its ends at 7 and provided with one or more openings 8 whereby a socket is formed to receive an additional coupling member 9, the latter being disclosed in the form of a vertical pin movable upwardly from its holding socket and provided at its upper end with an eye or the like 10.

Cables 11 lead from the upper ends of the coupling members G to the cable engaging members E, While other cables l2 eX- tend from the coupling members 9 to the burden carrier B and may Well support the latter, as clearly shown in Figs. l and 5; and all of these cables, as Well as the cable C, are preferably of elastic nature so that the shock which would otherwise occur when either member E is picked up by the cable C, and in turn picks up the burden, will be absorbed.

By the connections 1l, 6, 9 and 12 between the cable engaging members E and the burden carrier B, either of the former may be picked up and raise the burden, without disturbingr the other member E, since the pin 9 will withdraw from the coupling member 6 which is connected to said last mentioned member E. It is thus possible to provide guiding means for the cable C, of such Width as to allow the cable to enter the same Without extremely accurate fiying, and regardless of Which guide the cable enters, it will pick up the burden b v means of one of the members E, While leaving the other undisturbed in its holding means.

The invention is intended principally for picking up sacks of mail While the machine is in flight, but may be employed for collecting supplies such as fuel and oil, food, bombs, ammunition, etc.; and due to the arrangement shown and described, including the several elastic cables. the burden will be raised with no shock. In this connection, it may be pointed out that the sockets l of Figs. T and S, permanently incline in the manner shown to allow the coupling members 6 to Withdraw therefrom in the true direction in which the cables 1l pull upon them when the cable C comes into action to raise either member E. There is thus no binding of the part 5 in the socket, which would obviously cause considerable trouble and would not permit the burden to be picked up without shock.

In the formv of the device employing the sockets 1 and the pivoted. spring resisted plates 2, the sockets normally stand upright, but swing as indicated 1n Fig. 4, so that either socket may adjust itself to the line of pull of the cable 11, thus allowing the free Withdrawal of the member 6.

By employing the construction shown, or an analogous arrangement, the desired results may be obtained in a simple and effect-ive manner. Since high eiiciency is obtained from the details disclosed, they may Well be followed. Within the scope of the invention as claimed, however, numerous changes may well be made.

I claim:

1. In an aircraft supply n'leans, spaced cable-engaging members, a cable depending from the aircraft for picking up either cable engaging member, means for guiding the cable to one or the other of said cable-engaging members according to the relative position of the aircraft, a burden carrier, and connecting means between said cableengaging members and said burden carrier including means for freeing one cable-engaging member When the other member is raised b v said cable.

2. In an aircraft supply means, spaced cable-engaging members, a cable depending from the aircraft for picking up either cable-engaging member, means for guiding the cable to one or the other of said cable-engaging members according to the relative position of the aircraft, a burden carrier, and connections leading from said cable-en gaging' members to said burden carrier and each consisting of sections and releasable means coupling them together, the coupling means of either connector being releasable by the ascent of the other connector.

3. In an aircraft supply means, spaced cable-engaging members, a cable depending from the aircraft for picking up either cable-engaging member, means for guiding the cable to one or the other of said cable-engaging members according to the relative position of the aircraft, a burden carrier, spaced supports. and sectional connections leading from said burden carrier to said cable-engaging members, including means for separabl-y connecting the sections of the connectors and for'removably attaching them to said supports, the sectionA connecting means of one connector being releasable by ascent of the other connector.

4. In an aircraft supply means. spaced supports, couplers carried by said supports and movable therefrom, each of said couplers being formed of separable sections, a burden carrier and means connecting it to one section of said couplers, spaced cable-engaging members and means connecting them to the other sections of said couplers, a cable depending from the aircraft for picking up either of said cable-en aging members, and means for guiding sai cable'to yone cableengaging member or the other, according' to the relative location of the aircraft. the ascent of one of the aforesaid couplers causing release of the other.

5. In an aircraft supply means, spaced supports, coupling members removably engaged with said su ports, additional cou pling members det-ac ably engaged With the first named coupling members and movable from said first named coupling members in the same direction in which the latter are lili llt)

movable from said supports, a burden carrier and connections between the same and said additional coupling members, spaced. cable-engaging members and connections Detween them and said first named coupling members, a cable depending from the aircraft and adapted to pick up either of said cable-engaging members, and means for guiding said cable to one cable-engaging member or the other, according to the relative position of the aircraft.

6. In an aircraft supply means, spaced sockets, coupling members removably held by said sockets, additional coupling members detachably engaged with the first named coupling members and movable from said first named coupling members in the same direction in which the latter are movable from said sockets, a burden carrier and connections between the same and said second named coupling members, spaced cable-engaging members and Aconnections between them and said first named coupling members, a cable depending from the aircraft and adapted to pick up either of said cableengaging members, and means for guiding said cable to one cable-engaging member or the other, according to the relative position of the aircraft.

7. In an aircraft supply means, spaced supports, coupling members removably7 engaged with said supports and having sockets, additional coupling members removably held in said sockets and movable from them in the same direction in which said first named coupling members are movable from said supports, a burden carrier and connections between the same and said additional coupling memlbers, spaced cable-engaging members and connections between them and said first named coupling members, a cable depending from the aircraft and adapted to pick up either of said cable-engaging members, and means for guiding said cable to one cable-engaging member or the other, according to the relative position of the aircraft.

' 8. In an aircraft supply means, spaced sockets, coupling members removably held by said sockets and themselves having sockets, additional coupling members removably held by the sockets of said first named coupling members and movable therefrom in the direction in which the latter are movable from said first named sockets, a burden carrier and connections between the same and said additional coupling members, spaced cable-engaging members and connections between them and said rst named coupling members, a cable depending from the aircraft and adapted to pick up either of said cable-engaging members, and means for guiding said cable to one cable-engaging member or the other, according to the relative position of the aircraft.

9. In an aircraft supply means, spaced sockets, plates having one end removably received in said sockets, spaced cable-engaging members and connections leading therefrom to the other ends of said plates, lateral projections on said plates provided with openings, pins removably received in said openings and movable therefrom in the direction in which said plates are removable from said sockets, a burden carrier and connections between the same and said pins, a cable depending from the airship and adapted to pick up either of said cable-engaging members, and means for guiding the cable to one cable-engaging member or the other, according to the relative position of the aircraft.

10. In an aircraft supply means, spaced cable-engaging members, a cable depending from the aircraft and adapted to pick up either of said cable-engaging members, means for guiding said cable to one cableengaging member or the other, according to the relative position of the aircraft, coupling members and connections between them and said cable-engaging members for lifting one of the former when one of the latter is picked up by said cable, means" for holding each of said coupling members and allowing it to withdraw from such holding means in the direction in which its respective connection pulls upon it when said connection is pulled by one of said cableengaging members, additional coupling members carried by said first named coupling members and movable therefrom in the direction in which the latter are movable from their holding means, a burden carrier, and connections between said burden carrier and said additional coupling members.

l1. In an aircraft supply means, spaced cable-engaging members, a cable depending from the aircraft and adapted to pick up either of said cable-engaging members, means for guiding said cable to one cableengaging member or the other, according to the relative position of the aircraft, coupling members and connections between them and said cable-engaging members for lifting one of the former when one of the latter is picked up by said cable, pivoted, spring-resisted supports for holding said cou ling members, each of said supports being a apted to swing upon its pivot when the coupling member held thereby is pulled by its respective connection, thereby allowing the coupling member to withdraw from the support without binding, additional coupling members carried by said first named coupling members and movable therefrom in the direction in which the latter are movable from said supports, a burden carrier, and connections between said carrier and said additional coupling members.

12. In a supply means for aircraft, a pair of cable guides disposed side by side and each consisting of converging walls, cableengaging members between the closely spaced front ends of said walls, a cable depending from the aircraft and adapted to be guided to either of said cable-engaging members by said guides and to pick up the member to which it is guided, coupling members removably supported by the inner walls of said guides and releasable therefrom by upward movement, connections between said coupling members und said cable-engaging members, additional coupling members removably carried by said first named coupling members and movable upwardly therefrom, a burden carrier, and connections between said burden carrier and said additional coupling members.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

GODFREY L. CABOT. 

